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Tom Tancredo
Transcript of Tom Tancredo during the third Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire (2008 election) (June 05 2007)
BLITZER: Congressman Tom Tancredo, what do you say? REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: I'll tell you this, that if it comes to that point in that time that you described, that the surge is apparent that it is not working, I did support it. I hope to God it does work. I hope I'm wrong. I hope we pacify Iraq. However, if it is apparent that we cannot, then we have to do and tell the Iraqis the exact same thing that Benjamin Franklin said when he came out of the convention in 1787 and somebody said to him, 'Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?' And he said, 'A republic, if you can keep it. ' It is exactly that time and it is exactly that thing that we have to say to the Iraqi government: 'We have given you this. We bought it with our blood and sweat. It is now up to you to keep it. ' And I want the Iraqis to be in fact patrolling Baghdad. If they need vehicles, you let them have the vehicles. But I want them patrolling their city and putting their lives at risk. Then we move out. (APPLAUSE) Congressman Tancredo, let's talk immigration.
TANCREDO: OK. SPRADLING: You oppose the immigration reform compromise, calling it, quote, 'the worst piece of legislation to come down the pike in a long time. ' Just this morning in Manchester, you vowed to oust any senator who supports the bill, including possibly New Hampshire's senior Senator Judd Gregg, who's undecided, and says to your comments that you are part of the know-nothing wing of the political spectrum. In the meantime, the president says his plan is the last best chance for serious immigration reform. He's criticized conservatives for being obstructionists. With that tension at stake, if this becomes law, what are the consequences for the country? TANCREDO: They are incredible, and they are disastrous. And that is exactly why I have said what I've said, and that is why I have consistently tried to impress upon the American public the seriousness of this issue. We're not just talking about the number of jobs that we may be losing or the number of kids that are in our schools and impacting our school system or the number of people that are abusing our hospital system and taking advantage of the welfare system in this country. We're not just talking about that. We're talking about something that goes to the very heart of this nation: whether or not we will actually survive as a nation. And here's what I mean by that. What we're doing here in this immigration battle is testing our willingness to actually hold together as a nation or split apart into a lot of balkanized pieces. We are testing our willingness to actually hold on to something called the English language, something that is the glue that is supposed to hold us together as a nation. We are becoming a bilingual nation. And that is not good. And that is the fearful part of this. The ramifications are much, much more significant than any that we've been discussing so far. And so, yes, I have said dramatic things. And, yes, I am willing to do whatever is necessary to try to stop this piece of legislation. And that includes go after any Republican that votes for it, because the Republicans can stop this. (APPLAUSE) BLITZER: Congressman Tancredo, I see you anxious to weigh in.
TANCREDO: Thank you. Some time ago, in 2003 I think it was, that I got a call from Karl Rove, who told me that, because of my criticism of the president, I should never darken the doorstep of the White House. I have been so disappointed in the president in so many ways since his -- actually for the last several years, not just the immigration issue, but several other things, including the No Child Left Behind and the massive increase in government that we call prescription drug -- Medicare prescription drug, that I'm afraid I would have to tell the president of the United States -- I mean, as president, I would have to tell George Bush exactly the same thing Karl Rove told me.
BLITZER: I just want to do a quick 'yes' or 'no. ' And I'm going to go down the rest of the group and let everybody just tell me 'yes' or 'no': Would you pardon Scooter Libby? TANCREDO: Yes.
Congressman Tancredo, do you believe true conservatives should be doing more to protect the environment? TANCREDO: Yes. I think that that's absolutely imperative, and I think so because, frankly, you've got a conservative model to pick from. I mean, you know, Teddy Roosevelt, after all, put this stamp on that -- the whole issue of conserving the environment, creating the national parks system. There's nothing anti-conservative about doing anything like that. And you know what else you can do in order to foster that? You do it through conservative principles. You make it profitable for people to do exactly that, to put -- to make conservation an issue that hits people in the pocketbook, or they can profit by getting involved in conservation. That's one way the free market really works perfectly. We've seen it happen all over the world. We can see and we will put conservation to work -- conservation practices to work in the United States through conservative principles. We have a lock on that.
BLITZER: Thank you, Governor. Congressman Tancredo, would you advertise for your campaign in Spanish? Specifically, I am referring to the highly publicized comment you recently made that Miami was like a third world country.
TANCREDO: Right. Yes, exactly. No, I would not advertise in Spanish. Believe me when I tell you this: The preservation of the English language is important for us for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is because it is what holds us together. It is the glue that keeps a country together -- any country. Bilingual countries don't work, and we should not encourage it. And even in the bill that Senator McCain is pushing he says that it supports English-only or official English. He doesn't go on to tell you that, of course, he says that we're going to codify President Clinton's original plan, original executive order signed, that said all papers produced by the government have to be in various languages. No, it is absolutely wrong. English is the language of this country. And you know what? We should not be ashamed of that. It's a good thing. And it holds us all together, regardless of where we come from, regardless of our backgrounds, our histories. It doesn't matter. We need that thing to hold us together.
BLITZER: Congressman? TANCREDO: The biggest problem, I think, in this administration has been the fact that he ran -- the president ran as a conservative and governed as a liberal. That is what has really been the basis, I think, of the distrust that has developed among the Republican base. It's well founded. We have to do something about that.
QUESTION: With regards to illegal and legal immigration, in your opinion, what does it mean to be an American? What are the tangible and intangible attributes of an American? VAUGHN: Congressman Tancredo? TANCREDO: It means, number one, cut from the past. If you come here as an immigrant, great, welcome. If you come here legally, welcome. It means you've cut your ties with the past, familial, especially political ties with the country from which you came. But let's be serious about this, you guys. We can talk about all the immigration reform we want and what it's got to get down to is this: Are we ready for a time-out? Are we actually ready to say, enough is enough, we have to stop all legal immigration except for people coming into this country as family members, immediate family members, and/or refugees. Are we willing to actually say that and say, enough is -- we have got to actually begin the process of assimilating people who have come in this great wave of immigration. The process of assimilation is not going on. And how long -- how long will it take us -- for us to catch up with the millions of people who have come here, both legally and illegally, and assimilate them? I'll tell you this: It will take this long: Until we no longer have to press one for English and two for any other language. (APPLAUSE)
Sam Brownback
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